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Vespa
Vespa is the fourth planet from the star known as Diana '(out of nine planets in total), and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the system in terms of diameter, mass, and density. It is also referred to as ''the World, Casa Nostra ("Our Home" in Common Alban), and Orbus Sancti (by the Alban High Priesthood). Home to billions of the humanoid species that consist the three known countries of Vespa--the Pretani, the Albans and the sub-species therein--Vespa is the only place in the known universe where life is known to exist. It is unknown to the Vespan people just how old the planet is, or how old their own species are, due in part to the mysterious disappearance of the civilization that predated the Pretani. The physical properties of Vespa, as well as its geological history and orbit, has allowed life to persist during this period. Vespa interacts with other objects in outer space, including its Sun, Diana, and its two moons, Bella and Victoria. At present, Earth orbits the Sun once for every roughly 742 times it rotates about its axis. This length of time is refered to by the Pretani Elizabethan Calendar as a ''Year Cycle (abb. YC)''. Vespa's axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular to its orbital plane producing four seasonal variations on the planet's surface within a single year cycle. Vespas two known natural satellites, Bella and Victoria, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet's rotation, although considering their relatively small size, not by much. Both the mineral resources of the planet, as well as the products of the biosphere, contribute resources that are used to support a global sentient population. The inhabitants are grouped into about 3 independent sovereign states, which, from time immemorial, have interacted almost solely via warfare. These three known sentient populations inhabit less than a tenth of the planet's total area, and have yet to stray further out of their boundaries than a few hundred kilometres, with the sole exception being the New Hope Expedition of 1911. Vespa's mineral deposits are rich with a peculiar solid metallic element known as Vespium. This ultra-solid, yet oddly hyper-resistant metal has been the foundation of both Alban and Pretani civilization, as it paved the way for durable construction and weaponry. So crucial is it to the development of Pretani and Alban civilization that the governments of all three nations on Vespa have declared it the property of the state. Distribution of the material is regulated from therein. Planetary Landscape Vespa is a planet that consists of six different continents, although only two are, according to Pretani and Alban records, actually inhabited. In fact, the area of Vespa known to be inhabited consists of about a sixth of the planet's terrestrial surface. Originally, however, only one of the six continents--the smallest, in fact--was inhabited. The continent in question is in fact the homeland of the Alban and Pretani people, and as such numerous names exist for it. The Pretani, for instance, call their island continent '''Pretania, while the Alban Holy Regency has dubbed the continent the Santuario Divino, or Divine Sanctuary. The second continent inhabited is only partially so--in fact, less than a tenth of the continent's land mass is actually inhabited. The civilization referred to, of course, is the Rio Confederacy. As an offshoot of the United Kingdoms, however, the Rio Confederacy has tacitly approved of the Imperial-era denomination of the continent: Terra Nova. All other continents have, thus far, gone undiscovered due in part to the vastness of the Great Sea.